THE Celtic boss fears a match which could be one of the highlights of their careers could end up being one of the bleakest if the Parkhead side don;t have their heads screwed.

Not just all conquering, all singing and dancing purveyors of the beautiful game. But a bunch of ruthless butchers who will slice Celtic open as soon as look at them.

No
wonder then the Parkhead boss was busy laying down the law to his players yesterday after they arrived here for what many of them may be looking forward to as one of the highlights of their careers.

It’s
Lennon’s fear that if their heads are not screwed on right tonight at the Nou Camp, then they might forever remember this Champions League trip as one of the bleakest and most humbling experiences of their footballing lives.

That’s why he won’t tolerate talk of private deals being done in the tunnel ahead of kick-off so that one of his lucky players can return home to their kids, clutching Lionel Messi’s sweat-stained strip as a memento.

It
was only recently that two Bayer Leverkusen team-mates almost came to blows over which of them got to take the shirt off the little man’s back
and the thought of any of his own men becoming involved in such blatant
hero worshipping, just about turns Lennon’s stomach.

“We’re
not here to visit tourist attractions,” was how he put it to the local press shortly after checking into the team hotel, a Fraser Forster punt away from some of the most hallowed turf in all of football. Tonight, though, this is Celtic’s place of work.

And
Lennon will not rest until he is sure that each of the players he sends
out on to it is fully aware of its many reputation-shattering pitfalls.

Moments after carrying out his duties
at the bustling pre-match press conference, Lennon sat in a quieter corner of the room well away from a dozen or so Spanish TV crews and tried to disengage himself from the circus which trawls around this city, chasing after anything and anyone about to be placed in the mighty Barcelona’s way.

And it was then that he stressed the importance of not allowing his players to get caught up in it all.

“People do all this: ‘There he is, look, it’s Xavi.’ And it’s all ‘can I have your shirt after the game?’ But that’s not what this is about,” Lennon said sternly as he talked of the dangers which are about to confront Scotland’s champions.

“These guys are baby-faced assassins.
They will eat you alive if you give them half a chance. They will rip you to shreds. They come across as really nice guys but they are absolute footballing animals.”

In the nicest possible way, of course.

That’s
what makes this current Barcelona side arguably the greatest group of players ever assembled by any one club at any one time in the history of
the game. They are a modern day phenomenon.

And
Lennon can still remember coming up against them in his playing days just as they were starting out on their way to the top. Back then, in 2004, Martin O’Neill’s Celtic was a capable European unit.

But two encounters with the Catalans convinced Lennon something special was about to be unleashed on the world stage.

He said: “When we played them I tried to blank everything out. I was 29, 30, 31.

“Early
on in my career when I played at Wembley for the first time it flew by and I made a bollocks of it, so I thought if I get the opportunity to go
back again I’ll concentrate on the game. That’s what the players have to do here.

“When I played against them it was in the pre-Messi days. Xavi was in the side but he was young and Iniesta was on the cusp of the squad. Since then, those three have been the key to why they have been so successful. Put those three in any team and I suspect they would turn them into world-beaters.

“Back
in the day it was Ronaldinho, Deco, Giuly and Henrik Larsson but they hadn’t reached the heights. It was the following year they won the Champions League.

“I remember when they came to Glasgow for the second time and broke our home record. That was when I knew they were a bit special. Not many teams could play us off our own park and they did.

“But this Barcelona team is two or three gears better than anything I have ever seen before. I watched them
the other night and they were fabulous.”

Which is why there is an element of anxiety about Lennon as he prepares to meet such a formidable old foe.

Neil Lennon watches his side train

He continued: “The challenge facing my team is bigger than it was back then. This is a huge step up and no matter what experience Johan Mjallby and myself can pass on to them, it won’t replicate what they are about to experience for themselves.

“It’s
a big pitch, a different atmosphere from what they are used to at Celtic Park, the pace of the game, the movement, the quality of the passing, the quickness of the playing surface. They will just have to adapt it to it all as quickly as possible.

“We want to stay in the game early on if we can which means the first 15-20 minutes are going to be very important for us.”

Get
those opening moments right, and Celtic might be in with a chance of shocking the watching world. Get them wrong and, well, it could all get rather Messi.

No-one knows that better than Lennon who is still marvelling after watching the Argentine magician in the flesh for the very first time at La Coruna on Saturday night.

He said: “It was funny watching Messi. He just walks around as the ball is being popped about and lets everyone else deal with it. Then, boom! He comes alive.

“So my centre halves will have to be so mindful not just of the threat Messi brings but also players around him.

“In
my opinion Messi is the greatest player ever. From what I’ve seen over the past six or seven years he has everything you could ask for.

“Take
his goals the other night here; left foot, right foot, left foot. And he hit the post with a 30-yard free-kick. The guy can do everything.”

No pressure then?

Well, yes there is. Somehow Lennon must attempt to come up with a plan to stop Messi running riot against his own players.

No pressure? Don’t kid yourself.

But
Lennon added: “I like to feel pressure. I feel pressure to try to get something out of the game, I feel pressure to represent the club at European level and there will be a lot of people back home anticipating a
really exciting night.”